Twin Temptation

“No worries. I should be able to handle the show. I’ve done several with my mother. Marketing the product is the part of the business I’m good at.”

“But there are other things—problems at the ranch,” Maddie said.

“What kind of problems?”

Maddie raised her hands and dropped them. “I’m just not the best rancher in the world, and I’ve been struggling to fill my father’s shoes and at the same time grow my jewelry business. My neighbor, Cash Landry, has been helping me, but I can’t let that go on forever. And there’s this real estate agent, Daniel Pearson, who wants to sell the ranch for me.”

Jordan moved back to the couch. “You can’t be seriously thinking of selling?”

“No.” But Maddie felt a stab of guilt. Wasn’t that exactly what she was thinking of doing? After all, she hadn’t given Daniel Pearson a flat-out no. And here her sister was, arguing that they keep her mother’s business going. How could she even think of doing less for her father?

A gleam of interest leapt into her sister’s eyes. “Maybe I can help.”

“How?”

“Three weeks will give me a chance to get a feel for what the problems are. Not that I’m a rancher—but I do have those business degrees. Plus I’ll bring a fresh perspective. How many people did you tell about flying east for the reading of the will?”

“No one. My foreman Mac and Cash were both away, driving my cattle to market, then meeting with future buyers in Albuquerque. They’re not due back for a few days yet. Cash’s foreman comes over to tend the horses and check on things when Cash is gone. But I didn’t even have a chance to tell him I was leaving.”

Jordan took a thoughtful sip of her wine. “I’ll bet I could pretend to be you at the jewelry show without anyone knowing the difference.”

“Pretend to be me? You’re serious about this.”

“Very.” Rising, Jordan began to pace again. “I know buyers prefer to talk to the designer, and I’ve learned enough at Eva Ware Designs to masquerade as you. If the ranch is deserted right now, I’d only have to pretend when I go into Santa Fe. You won’t be able to pass yourself off as me, of course. The other Wares already know who you are, and so does Cho Li. I’ll let everyone else at the Madison Avenue store know. You’ll just have to do my job for three weeks.”

“But I have no idea what you do for a job.”

“My schedule is on my laptop. And Cho Li will fill you in. He’s been working with Mom for as long as I can remember. Is there someone who can fill me in at the ranch?”

“Wait. You’re going too fast.” Maddie felt as if all her objections were being picked off like ducks in a shooting gallery. “I haven’t told you all the problems at the ranch. It might not be safe for you there.”

“Why not?”

“There’ve been some incidents of vandalism lately. Minor ones at first—cut fences, graffiti on the bunkhouse. Cash was pretty sure it was the Trainer twins. Joey, the older one, had a sort of a crush on me. But lately, the incidents have gotten more serious. Due to a cut fence, some of my cattle strayed, and we couldn’t round them up in time to drive them to market. And a couple of weeks ago someone doctored the feed in my stables and I nearly lost my horse.”

“You called the police?”

“They couldn’t do much except file a report.”

Jordan joined Maddie on the couch. “I’ll be careful. Besides, it’ll be as safe for me there as it would be for you.”

“I can handle myself.”

Jordan’s eyebrows shot up. “So can I. After all, I’ve been raised in New York City. But there’s something you should know about the store. A month ago Eva Ware Designs was robbed. Someone broke through the security codes and took approximately one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry from the main salon. The police are still looking into it. But in the meantime, the security codes have been changed. And it happened after hours, so you should be fine.”

Maddie was more worried about Jordan than she was about herself. But Cash was due back from the cattle drive in another few days, she told herself. She could call him and tell him to look out for Jordan.

Suddenly, nerves tightened in her stomach. Was she really thinking of switching places with her sister?

“Is there anyone at the ranch who can fill me in on what I have to do?”

“Cash and my foreman can when they get back from the cattle drive.”

Jordan narrowed her gaze on her sister. “This Cash—are you and he…seeing each other?”

Maddie shook her head. “No. We grew up together. He runs the ranch next to mine. My father and his father had this idea that someday we might fall in love and join the two ranches. But it hasn’t happened. Cash and I are just friends.”

“Good. Do you think I could fool him into thinking I’m you if he shows up at the ranch?”

Maddie studied Jordan. “You’re really getting into the idea of masquerading as me.”

“It’s a practical approach. I won’t have to explain to everyone about the will and switching places. Do you think your cowboy neighbor will buy it?”

Maddie considered, then shook her head. “He’s pretty astute.”

Jordan grinned at her. “Really? I love a challenge. We’ll have to write things up for each other, and we’ll keep in touch by phone. That’s what the girls did in The Parent Trap, and they were only half our age.”

“You saw that movie?”

“Only about fifteen times. When I was little I remember watching it with Mom.”

“There’s one big difference between us and The Parent Trap girls. They switched so that they could get to know the parent they were separated from. We’re not going to be able to do that.”

“No.” Jordan sat down next to Maddie again and took her hands. “We’re not. I wish with all my heart that there was a way for you to meet our mother.”

The understanding she saw in her sister’s eyes helped ease the tightness in Maddie’s throat. “Same goes about our father.”

“Maybe switching places is the only way we have left to get to know them. We can do this.”

Maddie searched her sister’s face. “I don’t understand. Why do you want to? And why would you want to share your inheritance with me?”

Jordan stared at her. “Because you’re my sister, and because our mother wanted it this way. However late it is, she must have had some regrets about separating us, and this is her way of making sure we get to know one another.”

“There are other ways for us to get to know one another.”

“Maddie, you heard the terms of the will. If we don’t change places for three weeks, Eva Ware Designs will be sold. I can’t stand by and let that happen. Our mother worked her whole life to create it, and I can’t let it be destroyed. I want her legacy to live on. No matter what it takes, we have to fulfill the terms of the will. Please say you’ll do it.”

Maddie wasn’t an impulsive person—at least she didn’t think of herself that way. But she could sympathize with what Jordan was trying to do. It was the same thing that made her want to hold on to the ranch and keep it going so that her father’s legacy would live on.

And Jordan was right. If she did switch places and step into Jordan’s job at Eva Ware Designs, it would provide her with the only opportunity she might ever have to learn more about the woman she so admired. The woman she’d never met. And it was just possible that she could find out why their parents had decided to separate them. Hadn’t that been one of the primary questions on her mind since she’d accepted the truth of what Edward Fitzwalter III had told her during that phone call?

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

Maddie nodded.

“Thanks.” Jordan gave her sister a quick hug. “Okay. Now for the practical matters. You can live in my apartment, of course. I have a roommate, Jase Campbell. He was a few years ahead of me in college and we shared an apartment there. He moved into my place when he came to New York and started up his security firm. The arrangement has become sort of permanent.”

“Are the two of you involved?”

“No, we’re strictly pals. He’s like a big brother to me. But you probably won’t even run into him. He’s off on some mysterious job in South America. I can’t even reach him by cell. I haven’t been able to even tell him about…”

When Jordan suddenly stopped talking, Maddie took her hands.

“I don’t think it’s totally sunk in yet that she’s gone,” Jordan said.

Maddie handed Jordan her wine. “How could it? You had to identify the body.” Fitzwalter had told her about that. “Then there were the funeral arrangements and to top it off you find out you have a sister you never knew about.”

Jordan met her sister’s eyes. “When you lost your father, how long did it take for you to accept it?”

Maddie sighed. “I think I’m still trying to adjust.” She raised a hand to her sister’s cheek. “But I think that visiting the ranch may help you. There’s a kind of serenity there.”